Miley Cyrus is prepping a career after “Hannah.”

Written by

The Courier-Journal

Showbiz-savvy dad molds his offspring into filthy rich super-starlet and by the age of 17, super-starlet gets to do whatever she wants and the money keeps rolling in.

Billy Ray Cyrus and Miley have had more success than no-name stars with far more charisma and natural skill.

The hubris of those two! They are at a crucial crossroads. It's time to make a decision for the good of art, society and the souls of the Cyruses.

Miley's film "The Last Song" opened Wednesday, and even though it looks like sappy young-adult swill, the elegant presence of Greg Kinnear may somehow redeem it. Miley is also appearing in the "Sex and The City" sequel and has like, four movies in the pipeline. Enough!

That Cyrus chicklet doesn't need to be the Miley of all media.

Miley, I dare you to confine your limited talent to one career. And I suggest you pursue acting, preferably in silent films. That way I won't have to hear you sing anymore.

And you're a decent thespian. Heck, Miles, I even thought you were quite the charmer in the early days of "Hannah Montana."

Yeah, yeah, I know you want the best of both worlds. But you can't have it! It's time that a more impartial, less indulgent person took control of your career. A person much like myself.

OK, let's make a deal: I will let you sing in your movies and contribute a song or two to the soundtrack. But I must approve the songs.

And Miley, I'll throw the biggest party in the USA ever if you exchange your recording career for an acting career.

By Matt Frassica
Who recalls Miley's first role in Tim Burton's "Big Fish"

NO.

Ever since 14-year-old Miley Cyrus made her debut as the title character in the Disney Channel's "Hannah Montana" in 2006, avid viewers of Saturday morning television have known one thing: This is a girl who belongs far away from a film set.

Her pedestrian interpretation of Hannah ignores the dramatic possibilities of the role — as the daughter of pop-country royalty, Cyrus should have been more alive to the emotional compromises and self-doubt endured by those whose fame outstrips their talent. It was with relief that we learned this season will be the show's last.

Now, having suffered through "Hannah Montana: The Movie" (2009), we can definitively assert that it wasn't merely the limitations of the half-hour sitcom format that prompted such a shallow performance from Cyrus.

Luckily, Miley Cyrus has one true vocation: pop songstress. The young woman is possessed of a voice like that of a young Cyndi Lauper and an intuitive grasp of anthemic popular song that recalls early Madonna.

Tens of millions have thrilled to Cyrus's music, where she has the ability to access an emotional range barely hinted at in her acting. Cyrus inflects even the most vapid lyric with an immediacy and sincerity that belie its meaninglessness.

We defy even the most callous listener to hear Cyrus sing "The Climb" without misting up. That song's brave confession of ambition and its limits will ring true for everyone who has dared to dream big.

And what "best of 2009" list would be complete without "Party in the USA"?

But it took the inspired remix of "Party in the USA" with Biggie Smalls' tune of a very similar name (unprintable here) to alert many to the obvious truth: We had witnessed the arrival of another epoch-defining voice in American youth culture.